Guys, the problem is with a hack in the download folder and some careers "WILL NOT" work. Here's what I did, step by step. Opened up that Clean Installer thing, moved each item to its own folder (Game Objects, Walls, Floors, etc) Then whatever was left over in the folder after I did that, I deleted. I then put each folder full of item back one at a time (I put game objects back in the downloads folder first, then walls, etc.) If you need me to be more clear, just ask.

When I went to install the Sims 2 University, I was never given the option to choose a different location to keep it from installing in the same folder with the Sims 2. Should I move the Sims 2 folder out of the EA GAMES folder? I dont think the hacks and downloads are the problem but if the Sims 2 University causes issues, I say heck with the expansion and I wont use it until some issue is ressolved with it.

I found out by trial and error that this folder cannot be in the same directory as the download folder (apparently) sims looks in all of the subfolders. When I put it into the root of My Documents things worked OK.

Now for the solution - it helps if you are conversant with windows explorer and for goodness sake use the clean installer!

I have been foresighted enough to put all of my various download source files into a directory USED.

Move around 30-40 files from used into a directory marked TRIAL. Install them all. If the game still works move from TRIAL to OK, otherwise you have to delete the ones you just installed from DOWNLOAD (use the detail view, sort on the column "modified") and try with fewer. Isolate the bad apples and put into another folder or delete them.

Then repeat the whole process! :blah:

I'll close with an old gag - How do you keep a programmer in the shower forever?

Answer: Give him a bottle of shampoo labeled "Lather, rinse, repeat"

I'm going to be doing a lot of lathering, rinsing and repeating in the next few days.

Well, reading all the instructions on possible ways to fix the issues we have, I say its not worth my time to do all that and still not use the objects I downloaded. NOW, I spent hours on end d/ling objects that I'm not about to lose. So until there is a definate solution. The new expansion can go to hell because I can have just as much fun with the game as I normally do. Who cares about a college sim life anyway. So I can live without the expansion for now. It can collect dust in my closet for all I care because I'm not losing the awesome downloads I had for it.

Heh. I don't want to, but I am. I want to play at college! But with my downloads, eventually. Or, at least, with the damn game working.

This may sound dumb, but how do you use the clean installer? I downloaded it and went to browse downloads and it has update at the bottom, and install but I can't click on it, and then it has ok? what do I do once I have browsed the downloads folder?

I understand that the problem was with a hack or modded object, not the folder. I just cannot figure out what the bleeding hell it was after going through all my downloads with Clean Installer no less then 47 thousand times. (Okay, I exagerate, but you get the idea.) Once I got things running I slowly added back in all the downloads that had normal file names , so that I was sure exactly what I was putting in. Everything seems to work fine now, and I still don't know which file it was that caused all my grief.

I hate the way things are renamed when you install a lot with custom content in it. It makes it such a pain when going through your downloads. Clean Installer is a great tool, but when you have close to 5 thousand files in your downloads, it all sort of looks the same after a while. While it may be necessary for things to be renamed to run the game properly, it sure is a pain the way it is done. All the numbers and letters bullshit is ridiculous.

I've been experimenting with tacking on a name to the long hash names. So far, I think it works, at least with genetics and clothing that have the long hashes. I had some of those from downloading sims off the Exchange. I just tacked on _eyeshadow or _shirttop and the files still worked. It helps alittle with figuring out what you've got. I also found a bunch of empty packages with long hash names in my downloads and got rid of those.

I want mine pouts It won't be here till the 3rd..

I staarted with a fresh install no hacks hadn't even played the game when i installed University it took to long to load and i went by the install insructions. i have since removed SimPe, TSR, netFrame from my computer. i restared game and i could get to lot but people were frozen and 3/4 of my EP ready content was gone. i had use Clean Installer to check my files and SimPE to check to make sure the files were ready. I will remove the game and reload and trie with out any download content. It is a bummer if the download file is the problem because i have enjoyed the content that i have received in the community!

Carrigon, it definitely is the careers causing this so people need to scan for them. I found 1 that I KNOW I did not download. Also the filename was all hashed up, but none of the ones for download here have hex filenames, they have normal filenames like "computer_career" etc. A friend of mine who just installed University had 4 like this.

Even people who never downloaded a career can have them and you can't find them all just by looking in your downloads folder because it's impossible to distinguish the hex filenames and tell what they are. I had to run sims2hackscanner. My friend ran it and it caught one stowaway career file but was still having the problem so he also checked with Sims2Pack Clean Installer and found 3 more career packages with hex names that the hackscanner didn't detect. Once he removed those then the game loaded.

It's a pain in the butt, but I suggest people having this problem scan their downloads directory with both sims2 hack scanner and sims2 pack clean installer. Unfortunately, neither program seems to be updated regularly and I'm not even sure Phevers is bothering with S2PCI anymore, but maybe one program will catch some that the other didn't.

As for how we got these careers, they must have stowed away in another file we installed. I strongly suspect downloaded lots as they have a nasty tendency to be filled with all sorts of stowaway hacks and objects and not just the lot.

I agree, careers are evil. I spent most of my evening trying to find all the careers that were hidden in my downloads folders. 3 stupid career files kept my lots from loading. I had already moved out my hacks, I always rename them so I just moved them out. Once I removed those career files the lots load up fine. The really good news is of my 23k of downloads, other than the career files I am having no problems. I didn't have to reinstall. My sims attended their first day of class, met some professors and claimed their dorm room. I even had a pillow fight and one throw a water balloon. I think they are adjusting well.
Sims2pack Clean Installer is your friend. I also found a few corrupted files in my search for careers. They tend to crash clean installer, so a hint for those that come across them. Let Clean Installer run until it crashes. Then move the files that loaded into a subdirectory. Copy part of your unchecked downloads into another subdirectory and run Clean Installer onit. If they are clean move them to the directory of the first ones. rinse and repeat and you will end up with the bad files sitting being the last ones left and you can just delete them.

A few hints.
Install the game with your existing sims directory. This way the game can convert all the files. (I don't know if it will convert them if it doesn't do it during the initial install.)
Rename your sims2 directory and see if your game starts
If all goes well, rename the newly created sims2 directory and then change your original directory back to sims2 and try to run your game again.
If everything loads but you can't get into your lots, use sims2 Clean Installer and find any hacks or careers and move them out of your sims2 directories.
Rinse and repeat. Once you get the game to run and lots to load, then slowly place back your hacks and careers to see which ones work. Make sure you can identify them in case they cause problems and you might want to back up the working directory somewhere.

You also don't need to move your directories. You can rename the entire sims2 directory if you have room on your drive partition. You can't rename just the downloads directory, it must be the entire sims2 directory. Some people may find this easier and it is alot faster if you have tons of downloads. It took me 45 minutes to copy my directory and a few seconds to rename it.

All my recolors and objects were EP ready and I didn't have any problems getting the game to run with any of them installed. I haven't had a chance to check all the recolors yet, but the game is playable.

Hope this might be helpful to someone.

I just installed the EP last night and had the same problem. After trying 100 different things I had to UNINSTALL the EP and REINSTALL. I lost MANY of my downloads (skins, clothes, hacks etc) but It works now - and I have already replaced most of what I lost. The EP is good, It could have been better, however I am pretty pleased.
Oh and BTW This is my first post, I have downloaded from here before, but I am pretty new.

I'm having a similar problem, but I can go into empty lots with no problem, its the lots with existing families where my game won't load. I ran Clean Installer twice making sure all hacks, careers and anything else was removed. If I cant find a solution then I'll just create all new families and start fresh. (I would have rather waiting an extra couple months, if it meant Maxis could fix all these bugs before relasing the EP).

We had the same problem with the game stalling while loading, and solved it by removing everything from the Downloads folder and putting the files in a temp folder. I went through them all with the CleanInstaller, and pulled out all third-party hacks and put them in a separate folder. The game then loaded with no problem, so it we began going through the downloads: put half of them back in, start up game (or not!), rinse, repeat. (This is the fastest way I know to find a problem file.) We finally found the culprit; it's currently sitting on the desktop like a prize. :-) I'm not sure what it is, since it has no description in the filename, but I'll find out when I get back home later on.

Now I just have to contend with some blue, flashing recolors...

h3nker

The teleport folder can be a culprit here too. I removed everything from my downloads folder before installing the game. The game installed fine but I couldn't enter any lots. When I exited the game I found a heap of new files in my download folder which had been imported from the teleport folder. Cleaned out downloads and teleport and have had no problems since.

It seems the career hacks are the biggest culprit with this problem. I removed the (adult section) prostitution career (whore.package), and it worked.

Installation went well in spite of leaving my huge BS-part of the DLs in plus like 4500 "made-EP-ready-by-creator" objects (and custom neighbourhoods). I was amazed it could take that much and am now slowly moving the self-changed objects back in. My kids played along happily on a campus lot all afternoon.

Already pretty pissed by thinking, that we cannot do anything but play with the (clothesless!!!) young adults, I wanted to see, if we really don't have any family options with the new EP.

BS loaded fine - however, no "Young adults" have been added there. They are only available in one of the College neighbourhoods.

Original families on their original lots will load, but every time I want to enter my family (well, actually it's only a single woman in a small original house, so no big deal) it crashes the game after the second bar has lit up.

Any suggestions?

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EDIT:
This morning I tried one of my son's custom families/lots and it loaded without probs. So did a sample one on my daughter's PC. In my case only this one tiny household of mine seems to be infected. I had already feared, that all our old families would be doomed.

Still a miracle, why this one won't work and crashes the game.

The sims2 hack scanner has solved my lot loading problem. I put the questionable downloads directory back into place and scanned it. Hacks I had never heard of! Deleted practically all of the hacks it identified. I can at least go into lots now, will see what other quirks I run into.

Fortunately, using the Sims 2 Clean Installer and removing the rogue careers and other hacks fixed my problem, too. I'd say that people should try this first. I had a "Criminal" career in mine that I know I didn't download manually. Great program by the way. :D

I had to take out all my objects. The skins work fine in the game so now I will have to replace each object file to see what the problem is. This is slightly annoying.

Mmmmk

New Objects: A LOT of the new objects have not been made EP compatible. You can't do it yourself, the author has to do it = solution move them OUT of downloads until they have been updated by the author and probably Numenor who has been doing a lot of work on this. I would test this theory myself however we don't even have Uni yet =P


Hacks: Daysies has been compiling an ever growing list of hacks that WILL and won't work with the EP. Find the list here:

http://forums.modthesims2.com/showthread.php?t=47692

Recolours: By and large if they have been updated to EP specs they work fine.

Careers: Revolting and have been the bane of my life the last 3 months. Everytime I make an update list for S2CPI I turn around and there are another 433243 of them - houses on the Exchange are putrid with them. It also doesn't help that everytime a creator makes a small change to the file the MD5checksum number changes for the package making it harder and harder for us to track them all.

BUT.....another way to track down Careers that have reverted to the ultra long alpha/numeric nightmare is to use the SimPE Scan Folders Plugin. SimPE reads inside the package for data to fill the Contents field and if you are lucky, the creator has included this info which will give you a damn good hint that the package is a career.

Unfortunately they range in size from small to a hefty 5mb so no help there.

I guess if nothing else this will make people a bit more conscious of being more circumspect in what they download and how they organise their downloads =/

Would someone please tell me where I can get the Sims2 Hack Scanner?
Thank you

This will do you a lot better than the Scanner.

http://sims2pack.modthesims2.com/index.php?page=1

This is the Sims2Pack Clean Installer, it cleared up my problems. Just make sure to delete all the *CAREER* hacks you find -- that did the trick for me. You don't need to go through the whole list of files, simply sort by type and scroll down to the career packages.

Best of luck, mom!

I also found a "criminal career" (that I was unaware I downloaded) after running the Clean Installer for the millionth time, lol. I was finally able to get into one household, i'm going to try later on today to see if i can get into any others.